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April 2,- 1929.

J. BECKER ART OF GOKING COAL IN A RETORTING SPACE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 24. 1922 &

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April 2, 1929. J. BECKER ART OF COKING COAL IN A RETORTING SPACE Filed July 24. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 e e o' r 4 6 4 e n s ENLARGE!) PAR 771'). SEC TIDALI'JI Patented Apr. 2, 1929.

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JOSEPH BECKER, OF PETTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE KOPPEBS COM- PANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ART OF COKING COAL IN A R-E'IGRTING SPACE.

Application filed July 24,

- means for introducing steam into the coking retorts or chambers of the battery, the improvements contemplated by the invention providing a maximum yield of blue gas by insuring exceedingly rapid coking of the coal in the lower portion of each retort or coking chamber, with the result that the coking operation in the lower regionof the retort is completel in advance of the coking 1n the.

upper region of the retort and the lower part of thecharge is thus in condition for being steamed in the early part of the coking interval.

In addition to the general objects recited above, the invention has for further objects such other improvements or advantages in construction and operation as are found to obtain in the structuresand devices hereinafter. described or claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this specification and showing, for purposes of exemplification, a preferred form and manner in which the invention may be embodied and practiced, but without limiting the claimed invention to such illustritive instance or instances:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectiontaken transversely through a coking retort oven and par-V tially through a heating wall of the type such as that above specified and equipped with the improvements of the present invention, I planes indicated by j the line B B of Fig. 3;

the view'being taken on 1922. Serial No. 577,013.

heating walls taken in a the line AA of Fig. 1.

The same characters of reference designate the same parts in each of the several views ofthe drawings.

In its present embodiment, the invention is incorporated in a coking retort oven. or battery having features of the wellknown Koppers cross regenerative type exemplified in the patents to H. Koppers and Joseph Becker hereinabove mentioned.

A retort oven or battery of this type includes in its construction crosswise extending parallel heating walls constituted of series of vertical flame or combustion flues, elongated coking chambers or retorts intermediate the heating walls and parallel therewith, and crosswise extending regenerators located at a lowerlevel than the coking chambers and the heating walls and parallel therewith. For

plane indicated by convenience, the present description will be confined to this embodiment of the invention; features of construction and operation are, however, capable of other applications; consequently, the invention is not confined in its scope to the specific use and embodiment v herein described as an illustrative example.

Referring to the drawings: there are illustrated sectional views of a coke oven battery of the by-product type, such as has been hereinbefore mentioned, which battery embodies in its construction a plurality of crosswise elongated heating walls 11 and a plurality of intermediate crosswise elongated coking chambers or retorts 12. The heating walls 11 form the side walls of the respectiv e coking chambers 12, as shown more particularly in Fig. 2, and in accordance with the invention, the sides of the coking chambers 12 con verge or taper inwardly toward the longitudinal central planes of such chambers and toward the bottoms of the coking chambers, with. the result that the several coking chambers are narrower in their lower portions than in their upper portions and the heating walls, together with their flues, are wider in their lower portions than in their upper portions. vThe purpose of this construction will appear hereinafter. In the present instance, the heating walls 11 are directly supported by the heavy supporting or pillar .walls 18 which extend crosswise of the battery and are located beneath the respective heating walls 11. These pillar walls together. with other walls, collectively form the main Fig. 1, which partition extends a l the support of the entire superstructure of the oven battery and are themselves supported upon a flat mat or platform which constitutes the sub-foundation on which the entire bat tery rests. The other walls 22 extend directly beneath the respective coking chambers in parallelism between each two adjacent pillar walls 13 and such supporting walls 22 provide two regenerators located on the opposite sides of such walls 22 and between adjacent pillar walls 13. As statedbefore, the several walls 22 also have the function with the pillar walls 13 of supporting the weight. ot the battery superstructure.

The coal to be coked charged into the several coking chambers or ovens through charging holes 1 1 located in the top 15 or the oven battery and positioned directly above the retorts or chambers 12, is shown in l 1. These charging holes 14: are equipped with the usual removable covers (not shown) which are removed during charging of the individual chambers or retorts and are placed in position to close the tops of such retorts during the entire coking or distillin opera- 'ion The gases of distillation pass from the tops of the several retorts 12 through gas ontlets 16 and thence through ascension pipes (not shown) to the usual gas COllGk ting main which carriesthe distillation products to the by-produet recovery apparatus Heat for coking the charges of coal in the seve'al ovens or retorts 12 is derived from the heating walls 11, which, as above mentioned, extend crosswise of the battery at the sides of the coking cl'iambers. Referring now more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, each heating wall is constituted of a plurality ot vertical flame or combustion flues 1?. The flame flues of each heating wall are, in accordance with the present embodiment of the invention, operatively disposed into a single group, that is to say-allot the tines of each heating wall operate concurrently as up'llow or downflow lines, and, when the flame flues on one side of the coking chamber are burning or operating for upflow, the flame lines on the opposite side of the same coking chamber are operating for downflow to permit exhaust of the waste gases.

The crosswise regenerators 18 of the retort oven or battery are located at a lower level than the aforesaid heating walls 11 and col;- mg chambers 12 and extend in parallelism between the pillar walls 13 and the other sup porting walls 22. Located in the middle lengthwise vertical plane of the coke oven battery is a vertical partition 19, as shown in r y up fromthe mat of the battery to the bottom of the overlying coking chambers and from one to the other of the walls 13 and The regenerators, whichare respectively located on opposite sides of the battery extend inwardly to said partition 19 and are separated thereby, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. Preferably each regenerator is divided into an inner and outer compartment by a vertical partition 109 located between the aforesaid partition 19 and the side of the battery. The partitions 109 however do not extend clear up to the bottom of the coking chamber overlying the regenerator. Each regenerator 18 is a chamber containing open brickwork, commonly called cheekerwork, and indicated at 20 with a distributing sole channel 21 underneath and opening up into such checkerwork. The regenerator, are heated, in alternation, by the hot combustion products that are exhausted from the flame or combustion fines and then impart such heat to the medium that they feed into those flame flues. The regenerators are grouped into pairs K and L, as shown in Fig. 2, the regenerators of the pairs K alternatingwith the regenerators of the pairs L. Each pair 01": such regenerators is provieed with a series of ducts 23 all of which lead respectively to individual flame flues 17 of the same heating wall. WVith thisconstruction, each flame flue 17 communicates by a pair of ducts 23 with adjacent separate regenerators through which flow is maintained concurrently in the same direction. \Vhen the regenerators of the pairs K and their communicably connected flame fines are operating for inflow, the regenerators 01 the alternate pairs L and their communicablyconnected flame fines are operating foroutflow to permit exhaust of the waste gases.

Each flame flue 17 has at its top a port or openin 2 1 for draft and the passage of combustion )roducts or waste gas from the flame in the ue. These ports 24 open up into horizontal or bus fines 25 formed in the heating walls and connectingall of the vertical flues that communicate with such horizontal flues 2:) by means of the ports 24. According to the present embodiment otthe invention, the horizontal flues 25 of. each heating wall are communicably connected by means flues of which combustion is being maintained, passes downwardly through all of the flues oi the next adjacent heating wall and each reversal operation is accompanied by a re versalin direction of flow of all the fl'ue's of each. heating wall. 1

The draft through the ports 24 may be regulated by means of the usual dampers or sliding bricks 27, positioned in the ordinary way in the bottoms of the horizontal flues 25 and adapted to be reached by access flues 28 which extend from the top of the horizontal flues in each heating wall to the top 15 oi the battery, there being an access flue posi tioned over each flame or combustion flue of each heating wall. I

may be operated alternatively with the use of a special generator such as producer gas,

as the fue During such producer gas operation, one regenerator of each pair of inflow regenerators i'nay be optionally connected with a producer gas main by mechanism such as is disclosed in the prior Letters Patent of the United States of Joseph Becker N 0. 1,416,322, dated May 16, 1922.

In accordance with the present invention, the soles or bottoms of the several coking chambersor retorts 12 are respectively provided with channels 34. The several channels 34L extend longitudinally of the coking chambers and from side to side of the battery and constitute steam flow passages located directly beneath the bottoms of the retorts. Steam may he introduced into said channels 345 through vertical steam supply pipes located, as shown in Fig. 1 at tl'ie end of the heating walls 11 and respectively communicating, at their lower ends, with the horizontal channels 3% by horizontal ducts 86, as shown in Fig. 3. The vertical channels 35 respectively extend to the top 15 of the battery and may, at this point, be connected with any suitable source of steam supply. Inasmuch as said channels 35' are located in the heating walls 11, they function as superheating passages in which the steam introduced from the top of the battery may be super heated to a high temperature before it flows into the horizontal distributing channels 34. From each distributing channel 34 the steam may pass through a great number of dis tributing ports 37 into the lower relatively restricted or narrower portion of the corresponding coking chamber. The ports 37 provide an extremely diffuse distribution of the steam "flow into the corresponding coking chamber. The opposite ends of the horizontal passages 34 may be closed'by plugs 38, which are removable at will when it is de-' sired to clean out any of the steam flow spaces.

In the carbonization process, the coking of the coal proceeds inwardly from the opposite sides ot the charge 01 coal in each coking chamber, with theresult that the center or core of the charge remains in amore or less gumlike or sticky consistency until the charge is completely col-ted. Inasmuch as the heating walls 11 and their lines 1'? are relatively wider in their lower portion than in their upper portion, and the contiguouscoL- ing chambers are relatively narrower in their lower portion than in their upper portion, the coking 01" the lower portion of each charge of coal will proceed more rapidly in the lower portion or" the charge than in the top of the charge and the lower part or the cl'iargewill be completely 'coked in advance oi the upper portion of the charge. Conscqucn the lower portion oi the charge becomes quickly available for the introduction of steam, the

steaming being only etlectual for producing blue gas by the water reaction when the coking'is about complete, and a maximum yield of blue will thus he obtained. rowing the lower part of the coal charge not only shortens the coking time, but shortens it proportionately more than the narrowing re-' duces the charge, because narrowing the charge increases the average coking rate. This condition is augmented by increasing the width of the flame fines to provide pro- 'portiolmtely more heat to the narrower coke charge. Moreover, although the lower portion of each charge is done in advance of the upper portion, overheating ot the lower portion of the charge will be avoided on account of the steam which is introduced into the lower portion of the charge and keeps its temperature below that which tends to on use destruction of the coke. The invention therefore combines extremely rapid coking with a maximum production of gas and yet avoids any overcoking of the charge.

The apparatus herein disclosed is the subject of my co-pending divisional application,

Serial No. 230,060, filed October 31, 1927, for coking retort oven. The invention as hereinabove set forth is embodied in a particular form of construction but may he variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. The improvement in the art of coking coal in a retorting space which consists in forn'iing a vertically and horizontally extended mass of coal having the lower portion thinner than theupper portion and applying extraneously developed coking heat to the sides of such mass during the coking thereof so that the coking of the lower portion of the mass is accelerated and shortened relatively to the upper portion and the lower portion of the mass is completely cokcd before the upper portion, and, when the coking of the lower portion of the mass is substan- Nar- ' portion of the mass is accelerated and shortened relatively to the upper portion and the lower portion of the mass is'coinpletely coked before the upper portion, and, when the coking of the lower portion of the mass is substantially complete, introducing steam into such lower portion, and thereby increasing the gas production of the charge, while also retarding overcoking of. the lower portion thereof; substantially as specified.

3. The improvementin the art of coking coal in a rctorting space which consists in applying extranconsly developed heat to a mass of coal having one part thinner than the other so that during the coking thereof the coking of the thinner part of the mass is accelerated and shortened relatively to the other part and the thinner part of the mass is completely coked before the other part, when the coking of the thinner part of the mass is substantially complete, 1ntrodnc1ng steam into snclr completely coked part until the other part of the charge is coked, and thereby increasingthe gas production of the charge, while also retarding overcoking of the thinner part thereof} substantially as specifiedz' 4; The improvement in the art of coking coal in a rotor-ting space which consists in applying extraneously developed heat to a mass of. coal so that during the coking thereof the coking of one part of the mass isaccelerated and shortened relatively to the other part and one part of the mass may he completely coked before the other part, and, when the one part has attained a temperature at which steam will be dissociated, introdncingstea-m into such one part, and thereby increasing the gas production of the charge, while also retarding overcoking off the one-part thereof; substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I; have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH BECKER.

CERTIFlCATE 0F CORREGTEON.

Patent No. 1,707,427. Granted April 2, 1929. to

JOSEPH BECKER.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above surhhered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 4, line 21, ciaim 3, after the comma that follows the word "part" and before the word "when" insert the Word and comma "and,"; and that the said Letters Paterat should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 18th day of June, A. D. 1929.

M. J. Moore, (See!) Acting Commissioner oi Patents. 

